Stormy photos from coast path win top awards

An image of a storm swept landmark has won the top prize in the 2023 South West Coast Path Photographer of the Year competition.

More than 1,500 entries taken at points along the path which stretches 630 miles (1,014km) around Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and Somerset were submitted, the South West Coast Path Association said.

The panel awarded James Loveridge's photo of Lyme Regis' Cobb Harbour in Storm Ciaran the top prize.

Winners in other categories included entries of Cornwall's Gwennap Head and Sidmouth in Devon.

Mr Loveridge, who lives in Dorset, took a photograph of the harbour as waves battered it during the storm in November.

Judges said the photo was impressive in its "beauty and in it its message" and "clearly shows the force of nature".

Mr Loveridge, who has previously won the competition's Climate Change category, said: "It's great to have won the overall competition for the first time, so I thank the judges and feel lucky that I was in the right place at the right time and the conditions were right to get this photograph."

Pictures taken up to 31 January this year were eligible to be entered in the competition.

Jennifer Rogers, who took home two prizes in the categories of Nature and Your Path, was among the other winners.

In the latter category, Ms Rogers won with a photograph she took of the Milky Way over Gwennap Head at moonset.

Judge Jessica Lennan, a photography lecturer at the University of Plymouth, said the image offered a "distinctive view" of west Cornwall.

"The focal point is the expansive night sky, adorned with the mesmerising Milky Way," she said.

"Creating such a photo demand both technical expertise and dedication."

The winning photographs will go on display at an exhibition in London Paddington railway station in July, the association said.